Kim Yongbeom: "Korean Firms to Cooperate with Global Big Tech on $950 Billion Semiconductor Partnership over 5 Years"

Kim Yong-bum Briefs Press in San Francisco
Samsung-Broadcom to Collaborate on USD 200 Billion, SK-Nvidia and Others on USD 750 Billion Deals
Kim Yong-bum: "Not Investment, but Long-term Purchase Agreements... These Are Pre-orders for Memory"
Plans Underway for '5GW-scale AIDC'; Further Expansion Possible When Sites and Permits Are Secured
Hyundai Motor Group and Nvidia to Cooperate on AI Robot and Service Development

During President Lee Jae-myung's visit to San Francisco, Samsung Electronics and SK are set to pursue long-term partnerships for the supply of advanced memory semiconductors worth a total of USD 950 billion (approximately KRW 1,375 trillion) over the next five years with major companies such as Nvidia and Broadcom. According to the Office of the President, this collaboration is not driven by overseas investment plans from Korean companies, but rather is a "pre-order and contract award" arrangement, in which global big tech firms commit to purchasing semiconductors produced by Korean companies over the long term. There are also plans to pursue collaborative investment in domestic artificial intelligence data centers (AIDC), with total capacity of up to 5 gigawatts (GW) and approximately 2 million graphics processing units (GPUs).

President Lee Jae-myung is announcing the 'Sanfran AI Declaration' at the 'San Francisco AI Summit' held at The Midway in San Francisco, USA, on the 24th (local time). 2026.7.25 Yonhap News Agency

Kim Yong-bum, policy chief at the Office of the President, explained these initiatives during a briefing on the 24th (local time) at the local press center in San Francisco, as he reviewed President Lee’s back-to-back meetings with big tech CEOs and the outcomes of the San Francisco AI Summit. Kim stated, “Korean companies and leading global big tech firms have agreed to pursue partnerships in the semiconductor sector amounting to USD 950 billion, or 950 billion dollars in total.”

Samsung Electronics and Broadcom will seek to collaborate on foundry operations and supply advanced memory semiconductors and AI chips over the next five years in deals worth USD 200 billion (approximately KRW 290 trillion). SK, in partnership with Nvidia and other global tech giants, plans to pursue long-term advanced memory semiconductor supply deals totaling USD 750 billion over five years. Of this, the agreement with Nvidia alone accounts for USD 500 billion. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, revealed in both a one-on-one meeting with President Lee and at the AI Summit that Nvidia’s business relationship with SK Group would expand to encompass USD 500 billion. The remaining USD 250 billion comes from other long-term purchase agreements with global firms, but specific details have reportedly not been disclosed as those companies have yet to complete board and public disclosure procedures.

Regarding the nature of the USD 950 billion partnership, Kim explained it as a "long-term purchase contract, committing to buy that much over five years." He added, "These pre-orders for memory contracts represent orders secured by our companies." He further clarified, “It is not investment—rather, the agreement is that Nvidia and Broadcom will commit to buying memory at these volumes over the long term when we produce it. This enables Korean companies to secure stable long-term supply quantities.”

Kim also projected that demand for AI semiconductors may grow even larger than these initial estimates. He noted that Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, often hears the phrase "more chips" from Jensen Huang, indicating ongoing demand. Kim relayed, "Chairman Chey said he expects that in two months, CEO Jensen Huang may return seeking to raise the total even further beyond USD 500 billion."

Collaboration on Building Up to 5GW Scale AIDC in Korea Underway

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, is speaking at the "San Francisco AI Summit" held at The Midway in San Francisco, USA, on the 24th (local time), attended by President Lee Jae-myung. 2026.7.25 Yonhap News Photo by Yonhap News

Alongside long-term semiconductor supply agreements, there are ongoing discussions to construct AI data centers in Korea with capacity up to 5GW; it is estimated that around 2 million GPUs will be needed. SK Telecom has agreed with Nvidia to secure technical support needed for building and expanding AI data centers of up to 2GW, and to secure priority allocation of the latest GPUs. SK Telecom is also pursuing investment cooperation with Anthropic to develop gigawatt-scale AI data centers in Korea. With Amazon Web Services (AWS), plans are to expand a partnership based on the Ulsan AI data center to make it a major domestic hub, targeting gigawatt-level AI computing capacity.

Kim emphasized that, in addition to the 1GW data center currently being discussed with Anthropic, further investments could be made if new sites and permits are secured. He stated, "While 1GW is confirmed at present, there is an atmosphere where, should sites and permits in other regions be finalized, an additional 2–3GW could also be developed." He added, "With AI data centers, the timing of approvals and completion is very important, and there have been requests to expedite the permitting process."

President Lee responded by underlining the importance of speed in administrative processes, assuring that the government will work to swiftly handle related permits. Naver, for its part, plans to build a global AI factory valued at a total of USD 10 billion. By securing investment of USD 1 billion from Nvidia, it will expand its GPU supply and technological cooperation, and, by garnering up to USD 9 billion from global infrastructure investors, jointly establish the infrastructure and supply chain necessary for gigawatt-scale AI factories.

Hyundai Motor Group·Nvidia to Collaborate in Developing AI Robots

President Lee Jae-myung is toasting with attendees at the Global AI Leaders Dinner held on the 24th (local time) at The Ramp Restaurant in San Francisco, USA. From the left: Lee Hae-jin, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Naver; Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group; Rani Borkar, President of Microsoft Azure Hardware; Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA; President Lee Jae-myung; Hock Tan, CEO of Broadcom; Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics; Euisun Chung, Executive Chair of Hyundai Motor Group. July 25, 2026, Yonhap News Agency.

Cooperation has also been concretized in the areas of physical AI and AI services. Hyundai Motor Group and Nvidia will jointly establish a standard "Robot Reference Platform" to assist universities and startups in developing AI robots. Hyundai Motor Group is advancing the "Autonomous Driving Foundry" project, specializing in producing vehicles designed for self-driving, in partnership with Waymo. Meanwhile, Samsung SDS and Anthropic have formed a strategic partnership to discover new AI markets together and to cultivate AI engineers. The Office of the President assessed that, with these collaborations, the framework has been established for cooperation not only in semiconductor production and supply, but also next-generation chip co-design, domestic AI semiconductor proof of concept, AI data centers, physical AI, and talent development.

At the AI Summit, President Lee unveiled the "San Francisco AI Declaration," announcing plans to develop Korea into a global AI production hub and center of innovation, and declaring Korea’s goal of becoming "an irreplaceable core nation in the global AI supply chain." He additionally revealed plans to launch the "AI for Everyone" project, which will provide all citizens with access to chat-level AI and personal AI agents from the second half of this year. Kim said, “We have begun selecting operators and developing models for the project,” and projected that “the services are expected to be available either in the second half of this year or early next year.”

Earlier, President Lee also held individual meetings with Jensen Huang (Nvidia CEO), Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO), Dario Amodei (Anthropic CEO), and Hock Tan (Broadcom CEO), requesting their participation in Korea’s "Three Major Mega-Projects" and expanded investment in Korea. Kim said, "The big tech CEOs were clearly aware of Korea’s Three Major Mega-Projects and mentioned them repeatedly, sharing a unanimous view of welcoming Korea’s timely AI infrastructure investments and rapid implementation." Kim also stated, "This visit has led to dramatically strengthened cooperation between the Korean government, companies, and global big tech on building up the AI supply chain and creating markets," adding, "The government and private sector will work to achieve visible results from the Three Major Mega-Projects at an early stage."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.